ROSICRUCIAN D IGEST VOLUME 96 NUMBER 1 2018 Vol. 96 - No. 1 2018

Modern Alchemy 2 Official Magazine of the Worldwide H. Spencer Lewis, FRC Rosicrucian Order ® Spiritual Alchemy 4 Christian Bernard, FRC

© 2018 Supreme Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Lady Pernelle 8 Crucis. All Rights Reserved. Hélène Bernard, SRC This publication is provided for your personal, private use only, on an “as is” basis, without warranty, and may not True Imagination in Alchemy 11 be used for any commercial purpose. No part of this publication may be Dennis Hauck, FRC, PhD reproduced, distributed, displayed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, The Alchemists and Their Symbols 14 including electronic, without the express written permission of the Supreme Serge Hutin, FRC, DLitt Grand Lodge.

ROSICRUCIAN DIGEST (ISSN Michelspacher’s Mountain of the Adepts 20 #0035-8339) is published two times per year for $12.00 per year, single Peter Bindon, FRC, MA copies $6.00, by the Grand Lodge of the English Language Jurisdiction of the AMORC at 1342 Naglee Avenue, The Alchemist’s Laboratory 22 San Jose CA 95126. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rosicrucian Dennis Hauck, FRC, PhD Digest at 1342 Naglee Avenue, San Jose CA 95126. The Alchemical Wedding and The Crowning of The Hermetic Child 25 Steve Kalec, FRC On the cover: The Rosicrucian Rose. ”The Emerald Tablet of An Alchemical Journey Hermes. The Words of the Secrets to the Black Forest 30 of Hermes,” from Secret Symbols Dennis Hauck, FRC, PhD of the Rosicrucians. Image hand- colored by H. Spencer Lewis. The Alchemical Allegory of the Seed and the Field 33 Steve Kalec, FRC

Printed on 100% recycled post-consumer The New Alchemy Museum fiber using soy-based ink. at Rosicrucian Park 36 H. Spencer Lewis on Alchemy

H. Spencer Lewis, Co-founder and Imperator of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC (1915 – 1939).

The Rosicrucians and mystics who performed so many experiments in their laboratories, were seeking, through the material laws of the universe, to discover universal principles which had their action and reaction in the spiritual world as well as in the material world. They believed that just as the difference between gross metal and pure gold was a difference in character, constituted by the various rates of vibrations and by the presence of impure or unevolved elements, so the differences in human character were the result of impure and inharmonious elements which might be transmuted and changed into the pureness of spiritual life here on earth.

Page 1 Modern Alchemy H. Spencer Lewis, FRC The following article is an excerpt from an remind the reader that the real quest is not article originally published in the Rosicrucian for the purpose of making gold nor is the Digest in February 1933, entitled: “Modern search intended to reveal a more simple Alchemy: the Dreams of the Ancient Mystics are manner of producing gold. The whole idea Being Realized Today.” of the alchemists’ studies and experiments One of the great leaders in the is to observe nature’s laws at work and to alchemical movement throughout Europe, find more simple ways of demonstrating and perhaps the foremost alchemist in the them. In the process of transmutation and world today is Mon. F. Jollivet-Castelot of in the study of alchemy generally, more of Paris. He is not only an eminent scientist the fundamental principles of the universe who has devoted are revealed than in most of his life any other laboratory to the study of experiments transmutation that might be and synthetic conducted and this chemistry, he is what makes the is also director whole subject so of the Société fascinating and so Alchimique fraught with new de France and surprising and Editor conditions, of a quarterly situations, and magazine called revelations. La Rose-Croix, Francois Jollivet-Castelot stands in his laboratory in It was in which bears Douai, France, in April 1926. 1894 that Frater the Rosicrucian Jollivet-Castelot emblem. He is also an honorary member published his first book dealing with the of the Rosicrucian Order in America, great studies of his life in alchemy and AMORC. Some years ago we published a transmutation after having been a student photograph of Frater Jollivet-Castelot in of the Rosicrucian and mystical principles, his laboratory in our Triangle Monthly, and which revealed the work and secret process we have continuous reports from members used by the early mystics and alchemists. of his association regarding their joint and In 1904, Frater Jollivet-Castelot published individual achievements. Their monthly other important instructions regarding the publication is filled with interesting items science of alchemy. Since then his writings from their laboratories and quotations from have been read before the most learned other newspapers and scientific magazines scientific societies throughout the world regarding the art and science of alchemy and quoted in many popular books and and transmutation. treatises dealing with scientific subjects. One would think that after having In 1896, Frater Jollivet-Castelot and accomplished the feat on numerous others founded the Alchemical Society occasions of producing small amounts of France and it has many active and Rosicrucian of absolutely pure gold, the quest for the honorary members with constantly Digest No. 1 process and the search for the principles increasing interest in the subject. The 2018 would be brought to an end. But here, I articles appearing in their own magazine Page 2 representing their discoveries and findings might be transmuted and changed into the are quoted in many of the newspapers pureness of spiritual life here on earth. and magazines of the world, showing Much is said these days about vibrations a widespread interest in the subject of and their effect upon our health and our alchemy and transmutation. lives generally, and we are coming to learn Occasionally those who seek to criticize that all of life consists of vibrations which the Rosicrucians as being impractical affect us and, in fact, compose everything of people because of their advanced ideas and which we have any sense or understanding. progressive programs, point to the fact that It was in the laboratories of the alchemists the ancient Rosicrucians were interested in alchemy and in the search and mystics that the law for artificial gold. They of vibrations was first think that this search discovered and proved constitutes evidence to be an actual fact. And that the Rosicrucians while these mystics sought were dreamers instead for an elixir of life which of practical men and would prevent disease, old women. Such persons do age, and so-called death not realize that the parent and change gross material of modern chemistry was into pure gold, they found alchemy and that although laws and principles which the child in the form of would enable people modern chemistry has to cure disease and to grown to be a great and overcome many of the universally recognized obstacles to old age. They science, the parent has not also found ways and passed out of existence means of producing many or out of the universal H. Spencer Lewis’s The Alchemist. picture, for alchemy was of the modern metals limited to certain lines of such as bronze and various research and those fields of research have alloys, which have been extremely valuable not yet been exhausted even by the most to industry and commercial interests. So modern achievements of science. we have these ancients to thank for many As stated before, the Rosicrucians modern achievements which they turned and mystics who performed so many over to humankind as worldly benefits, experiments in their laboratories were while they still continue their searches and seeking, through the material laws of the their inquiries. universe, to discover universal principles Dreamers they may have been and which had their action and reaction dreamers many of them may still be, but in the spiritual world as well as in the they are the sort of dreamers who test their material world. They believed that just as dreams in the crucible of materialism as the difference between gross metal and well as the crucible of spirituality and they pure gold was a difference in character, constituted by the various rates of seek to turn their dreams into practical vibrations and by the presence of impure account and to practical application, and or unevolved elements, so the differences from their efforts we have derived so many in human character were the result of benefits that it does not behoove anyone impure and inharmonious elements which to criticize the mystics and their dreaming. Page 3 Spiritual Alchemy Christian Bernard, FRC In this article, Christian Bernard, Imperator of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, inspires us to participate in the Great Work on ourselves, through the transformative power of Spiritual Alchemy.

If there is really one essential thing Having obtained the materia prima, the for mystics in general and Rosicrucians alchemists would place it in a container to in particular, it is spiritual alchemy. This which they gave the name of “philosophical form of alchemy amounts to one of the egg,” partly because of its oval shape, and foundations of philosophy, and sets out partly to echo their belief that the whole the path we must follow in order to fulfill of Creation arose from a universal “egg,” our inner evolution. Herein, indeed, lies within which it existed in a latent, or seed, the Great Work that each human being state. From here they put the materia prima must accomplish in order to discover through several consecutive stages. the Philosopher’s Stone that is to be In the course of these stages, the found in the deepest part of themselves, materia prima took on various colors, until and achieve the perfection of their own it appeared as a red magma. Upon cooling, nature. Material alchemy, also called this magma gave rise to a somewhat bulky “operative alchemy,” has for centuries stone of the same color: the Philosopher’s fascinated scientists and mystics too, but Stone. This is the reason that transmutation what is essential must remain for us the aimed at obtaining gold was called “the transmuting, the perfecting, and hence red work.” The process aimed at making the evolving of our inner being. Whereas silver, usually out of iron, was designated operative alchemy transmutes base metals by the name “the white work,” and also into gold, spiritual alchemy transforms consisted of several stages. our soul. Before moving on to the latter, The final stage of the Great Work was I would like to go over what comprises to reduce the Philosopher’s Stone to a material alchemy. perfectly homogenous powder. Once this powder was obtained, the alchemist would Generally speaking, its aim was to cast it into the molten base metal, which transmute base metals, usually lead or tin, on contact would gradually transform into gold. This transmutation was not, itself into gold. however, carried out directly upon the This was the basic principle of material metal in question, but on a materia prima, alchemy. We also need to be aware that it that is to say on a primary or raw material, was practiced according to two methods. referred to as the “stone material” in The first, designated the “damp method,” some alchemical writings. It is difficult gave precedence to the processes of to say exactly what this materia prima was, dissolving and distilling. It lasted several because the descriptions given of it are weeks or even months, and required the confused, and they vary from author to use of retorts and stills. The second was author. According to certain sources it called the “dry method” and favored the consisted of a naturally occurring ore, processes of heating and combustion, composed essentially of sulphur, salt, and mainly involving the use of ovens and mercury combined in precise proportions. crucibles. This second method was the It would seem that this ore was rare and quicker of the two, but also the more Rosicrucian could be found only in places known to Digest dangerous, involving as it did the risk No. 1 the alchemists, which they kept a most of explosions. It did sometimes happen 2018 closely guarded secret. that alchemists would get injured in the Page 4 practice of their art or, even worse, would It is also known that they attached get killed. great importance to eclipses, believing We know that the alchemists worked that they had a particular influence on in special laboratories which were used for alchemical procedures. They considered nothing else. Most often this was a cellar, an this influence to be either negative or positive in different situations, which attic, or other building that was not well lit, then governed what they did. There is no as most of the necessary operations could doubt at all that alchemy drew on both not be carried out in daylight. The adepts astronomy and astrology. It is certainly also made use of various accessories. As not mere chance that the alchemists held well as the retorts, stills, ovens, and crucibles there to be a precise correlation between referred to, they also used scales, different the metals and the planets of our solar sorts of pincers, pestles, bellows of various system. They also had a good knowledge sizes, and even musical instruments. of chemistry. The main furnace, called the athanor, The question we may ask ourselves is was generally crude in shape and usually whether the alchemists really succeeded in made of fireproof earth. For different making gold. Judging from the accounts situations, its fire would be provided by they have left us, there is no doubt wood, charcoal, or sometimes even oil, whatsoever about this. Many authors too allowing better control of its intensity state that this was the means by which during the most delicate procedures. Jacques Coeur, Jean Bourré, Nicolas If you are wondering why the alchemists Flamel, and Cagliostro – to name just the most well-known – acquired their wealth. used musical instruments during their work, If we accept this as true, it is of note that it was because by playing certain notes or these individuals were known for their combinations of notes, they produced generosity and altruism, which suggests vibrations which had a specific effect on that they were practicing their art in order one phase or another of the Great Work. to help the poorest in society and to pay From what we know, they mainly used string for projects for the common good, such instruments such as the violin and guitar. as hospitals, roads, bridges, and so on. Sometimes they used wind instruments Apart from these testimonies, however, though, such as the trumpet or a small we do not have absolute proof that the organ. It is also likely that they intoned adepts of the Great Work really managed vowel sounds, although we have no proof to achieve their goal or became wealthy by of this. This was certainly the case with this means. We must each therefore form the Rosicrucian alchemists. The purpose our own view on this point. of this was one and the same, to create To know whether the alchemists of vibratory conditions favorable for this or the past succeeded in transmuting base metals into gold is incidental. The most that procedure. We can also assume that at important thing is the fact that they were times it was to raise themselves to the state convinced that human beings have the of consciousness required for their work. power, not to take the place of nature, In the case of the red work and the but to emulate it. In accordance with white work alike, the alchemists did their this conviction, they studied the laws of work by day or night, depending on the nature with the greatest respect. What is operation they had to carry out. While more, most of them were deeply spiritual, they always worked in a dimly-lit room, and used alchemy as an aid to their mystic they thought that certain stages had to quest. This is why their laboratories always take place when the Sun was in a certain included an oratory, meaning a place set position in the sky, or when the moon was aside for prayer, meditation, and for the in a certain phase of its cycle. study of divine laws generally. Usually the Page 5 oratory consisted simply of a chair and a to have as happy an existence as possible table with candles, objects for rituals, and and to gain mastery of life. esoteric books. There are several stages required to Material alchemy was just the outward reach the sought-after goal in spiritual expression of an infinitely higher alchemy, just as with material alchemy. transmutation, that of the soul itself; The first consists in accepting the idea the cornerstone of this transmutation is, that we are imperfect and have faults to purely and simply, spiritual alchemy. This correct. When I say “accept,” this means mystic process consists in one transmuting our own view as much as that of others. one’s faults by means of the crucible of This involves both looking at ourselves as life, urged on by the divine fire that burns we are, in the mirror of our soul, and also within us. We are all imperfect, however paying attention to the image of ourselves the ultimate goal of our evolution is that others send back to us. If we do not do to attain that state of perfection which this, we end up becoming blind to our real Rosicrucians call the “Rose-Croix state.” personality and give even more power to This state can only come about, though, our faults, to the point where they generate when we have purified our personality negative conduct on our part and give rise of its negative shortcomings; this entails to corresponding karmic tests. awakening the virtues of the divine soul If reading this article is interesting which is within us and which is seeking only to you, it is probably because you started to express its capacity this spiritual alchemy for wisdom. But such a at the same time as goal cannot be attained you did your personal in one single lifetime, mystic quest. There is therefore we have to no question that if your reincarnate for as long experience of life has as we are imperfect. endowed you with a To the extent modicum of wisdom, that one has not it will also have brought awakened the virtues you clarity of thought. of one’s divine soul, You are therefore in one manifests certain a position to know faults such as pride, and to recognize your selfishness, jealousy, weaknesses, and I intolerance, and so on. am positive that you In return these same Lion Devours the Sun, have within you the faults are detrimental by Nikki Schiro, SRC. potential to transmute to the person, for they these. I can assure you generate negative karma that is expressed for my part that I am well aware of my as trials of varying degrees in one’s life. We faults, deficiencies, and mistakes, and I am therefore have at least two good reasons certainly endeavoring to improve myself. for perfecting ourselves: first, it is part It is not from a position of detachment, of the process of evolution from which therefore, that I am passing on my we cannot withdraw, whose ultimate goal reflections to you, but rather as a human is to attain perfection, such as we can being to whom this alchemy also applies. demonstrate it as human beings; second, If it is always easier to speak about good it allows us to “think” our behavior into than to do good, the same can be said for being positive, and create positive karma the work and the betterment that we call for ourselves, which is expressed in for in others. Rosicrucian Digest our lives as joy in various forms, and is But accepting the concept of having No. 1 conducive to the happiness we are seeking. faults is not enough to accomplish this 2018 Surely what we ultimately want, after all, is inner transmutation. We must also want Page 6 to correct them, and this constitutes a key to me that the best way of achieving this stage in spiritual alchemy. In other words, is to first define the manner in which we must have the resolve to become the quality expresses itself in everyday better, in the human sense. This is only life. Having done this, we should make possible if we truly have the conviction ourselves manifest it every time there is that humankind’s goal is to evolve, which occasion to do so, until it is an integral part presents the whole question of the real of our soul and becomes natural. Returning meaning we attribute to life. to the example of pride, anyone wanting For my part I am convinced that to rid themselves of this fault needs to anyone who strives to perfect themselves implement humility. How exactly? By receives the support of the God of their making themselves stop highlighting their Heart and can find happiness, even if merits, demonstrating their intellectual or their faults are relatively numerous. If this any other type of superiority, or seeking is true, it is because karmic law always to draw attention to themselves, and rewards any effort made in the same making themselves act in the service of direction as the Good. Conversely, any Good in a totally impersonal way, and so person who has few faults but who lets forth. With time, this determined effort themselves be controlled by them without to be humble ends up becoming habitual, ever striving to transmute them, attracts in other words, it becomes a law to the various problems and progressive trials subconscious. Pride is then transmuted. to themselves for as long as they take This is the basic principle of the spiritual pleasure in their weaknesses. alchemy we should apply to each of our Once the decision to perfect faults. oneself is taken, there comes another A mystic who has transmuted stage in spiritual alchemy. This all of his or her faults into consists in materializing our their opposite qualities then desire to become better by experiences the final stage of actually transmuting our faults. spiritual alchemy, Illumination. If But to manage to do this, above not perfect, then he or she is at least anything else we must not attempt to very close to the state of perfection, fight against them, this unfortunately to the degree that it can be expressed by being our tendency. Fighting them like human beings on earth. The materia prima this in fact contributes to accentuating our of their being, their soul, has then become faults, because our ego then uses this to pure and perfect. It is not just chance that give itself power and assert its hold over the Rosicrucian alchemists symbolized the our conduct. On the contrary, we should Great Work by a red rose, often with an aura of the color gold. Certainly, whoever disengage from the fault in question, and has attained this state has brought about work on ourselves to acquire the opposite the celebrated “Chymical Wedding.” In quality. To take an example, if a person is other words, they have accomplished the fundamentally overly proud and is aware union between their human Self and their of this, they should not try to fight against divine Self, symbolized in the language of their pride, for in so doing they give it even alchemy by the marriage of the king and more force and increase its ability to be the queen, and by the union of sulphur harmful. They should endeavor to acquire and mercury. From that point on, they the opposite quality, in this case, humility. truly possess the elixir of long life, for they This entails calling on the most divine have become a pure agent of the Divinity, within their nature. and are no longer obliged to reincarnate. But how do we acquire the opposite In your mind, in your heart, and in quality of a fault we are aware of? It seems your life, may alchemy take place! Page 7 Lady Pernelle Hélène Bernard, SRC

The home of Lady Pernelle and Nicolas Flamel, the oldest house in Paris. In this excerpt from her book Great Women presenting to him a richly illustrated Initiates, Soror Hélène Bernard introduces us to ancient manuscript and saying: “Flamel, the fourteenth century Alchemist Pernelle Flamel look at this book, you do not understand (1326 – 1397) and her husband, Nicolas. it at all, but the day will come when you Justice being most often administered shall see therein what no other could even in heaven, very rarely on earth, and still catch a glimpse of.” less in history, Lady Pernelle had a famous Time passed, and one day, in 1357, husband: Nicolas Flamel. In this article he was given the opportunity to buy, there are no great alchemical treatises or for two florins, a strange book in which magical formulae, but only a few lines on he recognized the obscure language he the life of one of the most mysterious had seen in his initiatory dream. This couples of the fourteenth century and large golden book puzzled Flamel. The perhaps even of past and future centuries. finely engraved copper cover concealed Born in Pontoise, in the year 1330, enigmatic illustrations and beautifully young Nicolas Flamel opened a shop in formed letters. Paris on the right bank, near the Cemetery During that same year, the eminent of the Innocents, where many of his writer courted Lady Pernelle, twice a colleagues were established. But very soon widow of rich merchants in the district. an epidemic of the black plague forced the Four years his elder, the well-to-do writers’ guild to leave the neighborhood Pernelle took a deep interest in the new of the cemetery, then overpopulated, sciences. More than a devoted companion, and to settle in the district of the Church both a patron of the arts and letters and Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie. It was in an adviser, she transformed young Flamel, Rosicrucian this agitated Paris that a “damned” science a simple bookseller and copyist of the Digest No. 1 called alchemy thrived. One night, an angel, Petit Marais district, as well as a zealous 2018 all clad in white, appeared to Flamel, student of hidden knowledge, into one of Page 8 the most famous masters of divine magic. person capable of enlightening him on Like a queen, her first name was also her the meaning of these hermetic messages. last. The name Pernelle, from “perpetual” The meeting took place in the province or “perpetuity,” had a highly symbolical of Léon in Spain, through the agency of meaning for this “immortal” personage. a merchant in Boulogne-sur-Mer, who Married in Saint-Jacques Church around introduced him to Master Canches, a 1360, the couple led a simple life in their learned man whose knowledge seemed to home bearing the sign of “La Fleur de be boundless. Lys.” Trade and good deeds occupied Enthused by the few sketches that their days, while they devoted part of their Flamel showed him, Master Canches nights to the search for the Philosopher’s decided to undertake the journey back to Stone. Paris in order to see, consult, and press to In 1372, husband and wife officially his heart the sacred book whose existence willed their property to each other, as he had heard about, and which he believed Pernelle’s family looked with a suspicious was lost. The two traveling companions eye at the eventual heritage that her returned to France. All during their long two husbands had left her and that she trek throughout the kingdom, Master exclusively devoted to research and Canches revealed to his fortunate friend mysticism. Only altruism, love for science, the meaning of the ancient symbols. Alas, and the perfection of the philosopher’s the old Master Canches did not have the stone motivated Pernelle’s and Flamel’s chance to fulfill his dream: to examine the devotion. To decipher the great Book of divine manuscript. After seven days of Abraham the Jew – to be able to understand agony during which his faithful disciple and become imbued with each sign and did not leave his side for one minute, he each symbol of the mysterious pages – died in Orleans. The Sainte-Croix Church this was what these two people (walking in Orleans received his body while his soul questions marks) aspired to! The building walked beside Nicolas Flamel, who sadly of Notre-Dame de Paris was completed, went on his way. and this monumental temple was an During all that time, what was the inexhaustible source of inspiration to bookseller pilgrim’s wife doing? She too these adepts of light, condemned to act in was working for science. The alchemist the darkness of night and secret caves. Pernelle was busy studying the book and In 1378, Pernelle encouraged her deciphering one hundred secrets therein. husband to undertake the initiatory journey In December, after a few months’ absence, leading to Saint-Jacques de Compostella in Flamel was back, rich with experiences and Spain. Wearing a cloth coat and large hat a newly acquired knowledge. The union and carrying a scroll and a walking stick, the of two individual but similar quests, and pilgrim Nicolas Flamel began his journey the power of the alchemical combination departing from the parvis of Saint-Jacques formed by the magic couple, guided these de la Boucherie Church, on his way south, two seekers toward the apogee of the around Easter in the year 1379. science of Hermes. Inside his cloak, adorned with shells – In the spring of 1380, Charles V, symbols of his station as a devoted pilgrim upon the advice of the leaders of the to Saint-Jacques – he had sewn copies of Roman Catholic Church, forbade the the precious pages of his book. He hoped practice of alchemy. By no means did to meet, in the course of his journey, the this decree prevent Lady Pernelle and Page 9 Nicolas Flamel from continuing their key they withheld during these years of experiments. After three years of working obscurity. together, of ceaseless efforts, of joys More determined than ever to see and disappointments, on January 17, at truth and the happiness of others blossom noon, in the year 1382, the couple had the forth, Lady Pernelle drew up her last will great happiness to accomplish their first and testament in 1386, in favor of her transmutation: a strange projection upon mystical companion. Her sixty years did mercury and the element was transmuted not seem to have altered her vitality, and into half a pound of silver. On April 25 her face did not show the signs of old age. of the same year, at 5:00 pm, the ultimate Had they discovered the elixir of eternal experiment of the “magi” Pernelle and youth? It was declared so at the end of the Flamel took shape. After the white stone, fourteenth century. If the kings officially the red stone was born from their fingers and their inspired minds. Awed, Pernelle rebelled against the “alchemists,” they did not tire of gazing at and touching nonetheless were very much interested this pure gold, a wonderful product from in their research, from which they hoped divine nature and their labor. to benefit. But nothing can turn away the sincere seekers of the philosopher’s stone The goal of these true alchemists from the right path. The discovery of was not the lure of profit. After having the philosopher’s stone was different and repeated their great feat three times, the much superior to the plain transmutation Flamels intensified their good deeds of common elements into precious already begun, owing to Pernelle’s dowry. metals. Their true wealth was not of this In spite of their new resources, they world, although they actively contributed continued to lead a modest yet fascinating life. Like all the French people at that to humankind’s acceptance of it. time, they went through the troubled and On September 11, 1397, Lady dark Middle Ages. Cruelty and intolerance Pernelle and Nicolas Flamel’s “alchemical were evident at all times about them, and marriage” ended in its earthly expression. if it had not been for Pernelle’s prudent To Flamel, only the continuance of their vigilance, “La Fleur de Lys” would have common work filled the void created in his been ransacked like a great many of the home and heart by the passing of the wise neighboring homes, and their sanctuary Pernelle. Upon her tomb, in the Cemetery profaned. of the Innocents, the bereaved Nicolas Under the benevolence of these erected a pyramid in her memory. two “gold-makers,” fourteen hospitals For him initiation continued. Alone, he were established in the city of Paris, and lived another twenty long years. He went several churches, chapels, and cemeteries through transition on March 22, 1417. benefited from their generosity. The poor Where did immortal Pernelle go? Did from the nearby parishes, as well as from she, as a few traveling witnesses stated, other districts in the country, gained from retire with her beloved companion to the their kindness. Hieroglyphs, paintings, and carvings appeared in various parts of the high plateaus of an Eastern land? Perhaps Rosicrucian old city. The benefactors of the street of she has returned to the Cosmic Oneness Digest where she now reigns. No. 1 the writers thus hoped to perpetuate, in an 2018 initiatory language, the knowledge whose History ends, legend begins... Page 10 True Imagination in Alchemy Dennis Hauck, FRC, PhD Dennis William Hauck, FRC, PhD, can be prepared, and without it, no is the curator of the new Alchemy Museum at noble metal can ever be created. Rosicrucian Park and was the curator of the The riddle tells us that this secret Rosicrucian Alchemy Exhibit, now on display in power is commonly used and is in plain the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Frater Hauck sight. But it is most obvious where we live is a recognized leader in the emerging field of (in our own minds?). Children play with it, consciousness studies and humble poor and has contributed to a number of related people use it more fields, including the than snobbish history of science, rich people. The mathematical logic, uneducated lower psychology, and the class prizes it, scientific study of but the educated mystical experiences. higher class He is a popular author believes it is an and lecturer working idle waste of time. to facilitate personal, Yet this hidden cultural, and global ability – that so transformations many condemn through the ancient and take for principles of alchemy. Frater Hauck has written granted – is the only path to real wisdom several books and many papers and articles, and the only way to perfect anything. including several that have been published in recent issues of the Rosicrucian Digest and the One of the authors in the twelfth- Rose+Croix Journal (www.rosecroixjournal.org). century Turba Philosophorum (An Assembly of Philosophers) describes it as “a thing which is There is a riddle from the Middle Ages found everywhere, which is a stone and no that describes the true nature of the First stone, contemptible yet precious, hidden, Matter – a mysterious, etheric substance concealed, and yet known to everyone. It that is the source of all transformation: is a thing stronger and more sublime than The key to life and death is all other things.” everywhere to be found, but if you do not find it in your own house, you “It is familiar to all men, young and will find it nowhere. Yet, it is before old,” explains the author of Gloria Mundi everyone’s eyes; no one lives without (Glory of All Worlds - 1620). “It is found in it; everyone has used it. The poor the country, in the village, in the town, in usually possess more of it than the all things created by God; yet it is despised rich; children play with it in the streets. by everyone. No one prizes it, though, next The meek and uneducated esteem it to the human soul, it is the most beautiful highly, but the privileged and learned and the most precious thing upon earth often throw it away. It is the only thing and has the power to pull down kings and from which the Philosopher’s Stone princes.” Page 11 How you answer the riddle has a lot The meditative methods used by to do with your concept of reality. Where alchemists consisted of prolonged and do you draw the line at what is real? Your silent invocation of divine powers. fantasies? Your dreams? Your thoughts? Sometimes a person’s “inner angel” Your soul? Matter – is that real? According or “higher self ” was invoked. In their to Hermetic philosophy, everything is real. meditations, they were looking for the Everything we perceive is part of the “angelic ray” that unites the world of same One Thing, and the spectrum of our forms with the divine ideals that are the awareness is determined by the light of the source of everything. One Mind. That primal light is reflected The author of the Rosarium (1550) in each person’s consciousness in the light describes this special kind of alchemical of imagination, which is the answer to our meditation: “Take care that your door is riddle. well and firmly closed, so that he who is My ten-year-old nephew once within cannot escape, and, God willing, described imagination as “walking around you will reach the goal. Nature carries inside your mind.” For alchemists, it was out her operations gradually; and indeed, a private world of infinite possibilities I would have you do the same: let your where much of the Great Work took imagination be guided wholly by nature, place. To differentiate it from idle fantasy through whom the bodies regenerate and day-dreaming, they called it the True themselves in the bowels of the earth. Imagination. It is a special kind of mental And imagine this with true and not with imagery or visualization that is directly fantastic imagination.” connected to the ground of reality. In our The True Imagination envisions the culture, we are taught to reject the True subtle processes of nature and connects Imagination and sever our ties to the them with their divine archetypes. It hidden reality while we are still children. attempts to capture the “Seed of the Families, schools, churches – authorities World” as the divine mind dreams it. of all types – deny our inborn connection Therefore, when Hermetic writers speak to the divine mind and replace it with their of “seeing with the eyes of spirit,” they own dogma. are describing a process that penetrates “There is a secret stone,” explains one the deeper genesis of things beyond their fourteenth-century alchemist, “hidden in a outward appearances. deep well, worthless and rejected.” “Our Alchemists believed imagination is most precious stone,” laments another, a piece of heaven concealed within us, “cast forth upon the dunghill, being most a divine connection to the cosmic One dear, is made the vilest of the vile.” Mind. If you look up the definition According to Paracelsus, “the True of “imagination” in Martin Rulandus’s Imagination leads life back to its spiritual Lexicon of Alchemy (1612), you will find it reality, and it then takes on the name of defined as “the Star in Man, a celestial or meditation.” What he meant was that the supercelestial body.” True Imagination envisions the divine “The alchemists’ concept of Imaginatio,” Rosicrucian source of anything, which can then explains Carl Jung (1875-1961), “is the most Digest No. 1 be explored and understood through important key to understanding the Opus. 2018 meditation. We have to conceive of these imaginal Page 12 processes not as the immaterial phantoms psyche corresponding to external events that we readily take fantasy pictures to and objects. Surprisingly, this concept be, but as something corporeal, a subtle is a basic principle in the philosophy of body. The act of science. Galileo, imagining was like Francis Bacon, a physical activity that could be fitted Giordano Bruno, into the cycle of Johannes Kepler, material changes Isaac Newton, that brought these and Gottlieb about and was Leibniz all spoke brought about by of primordial them in turn. The images that are alchemist related pre-existent in the himself not only to the unconscious human soul and but directly to the can be perceived very substance through the that he hoped to “innate instinct” transform through of imagination. the power of imagination. The act of imagining is therefore a concentrated extract Quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli of life forces, a hybrid of the physical and (1900-1958) explained how these images psychic.” are the source of scientific insight: “When From his lifelong study of alchemy, one analyzes the pre-conscious steps to Jung developed the new discipline of true concepts, one always finds ideas transpersonal psychology and a therapeutic which consist of symbolic images. These method he called “active imagination” inner pictures are produced by an ‘instinct that uses the imagination as “an organ to imagining’ and are shared by different of understanding.” The technique allows individuals independently. Out of these unconscious issues and deeper feelings to archaic images grow rational concepts.” act themselves out in visualizations that often involve conversations with imaginal Albert Einstein (1879-1955) used the figures, such as one of Jung’s “guides” True Imagination to see himself riding on Philemon (shown above). a light beam through the cosmos, and he Active imagination can also be returned from his journey with the theory practiced by automatic writing or artistic of relativity. Like the alchemists, he paid endeavors like painting, sculpting, music, homage to the power of this divine gift: and dance. The method opens a channel “Imagination is more important than of communication between conscious and unconscious parts of a person’s psyche knowledge. For knowledge is limited to and also between the personal level and all we now know and understand, while the collective unconscious. imagination embraces the entire universe, Active imagination demonstrates the and all there ever will be to know and reality of pre-existing images in the human understand.” Page 13 The Alchemists and Their Symbols Serge Hutin, FRC, DLitt Serge Hutin (1927-1997) was an important figure in French esotericism, a doctor of letters, a graduate of the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes, and ex-attache of research at the CNRS (the French National Center for Scientific Research). He was also a long-term member of the Rosicrucian Order, during which time he wrote many articles and around forty books and was a regular lecturer for the Order. In his will, he donated all his writings to the Order. During medieval times, the alchemists, real and spurious, kept strange and very Fear played a part in the prestige mixed company. There were nobles and enjoyed by the alchemists. Having commoners, priests and laymen, Christians infiltrated the clergy and the guilds of the and Jews, learned and illiterate men and cathedral-builders, and being sometimes women, scholars, simple artisans, doctors, protected even by royalty, they formed a and “magicians” – in other words, a cross- real occult power, and one to be reckoned section of society. Wandering alchemists with. Alchemy was considered by the abounded in Germany, France, England, scholars of the time a natural science, and and Italy. They led vagabond and stray in opposition to the scholastic teachings lives, and often changed their names. But of the universities, it provoked a craze for once they had achieved a transmutation, experimentation. In addition, it became they would leave wherever they happened a vehicle for a number of more or less to be, and would thenceforth take every heretical doctrines, which had to be kept precaution to remain anonymous. The hidden from the Church. alchemists were true “world citizens,” ALCHEMY AND THE CHURCH but they kept closely in touch, through Faced with these alarming their secret societies, which in some ways developments, the Church did not remain resembled the guilds; they had signs and inactive. The Vatican condemned the countersigns so that the initiates could Hermetic art on several occasions. Pope recognize one another. This explains how John XXII (r. 1316- 1334) issued a bull they were able to make long journeys, of excommunication against all who since wherever they went they could surely practiced the art, although, curiously, one find a welcome; in the Middle Ages one tradition asserts he was its protector. The could see the world cheaply. To be assured Inquisition burned a number of alchemists of board and lodging, the alchemists at the stake, and the secular courts hanged would often join bands of pilgrims, or others. But in spite of this persecution even gypsies. In some towns, such as (which was only intermittent), alchemy Rosicrucian Paris and Prague, whole streets abounded thrived, and its adepts occasionally played Digest No. 1 with alchemists’ laboratories and meeting important roles in politics. One such was 2018 places. Jacques Coeur, the “grand silversmith” of Page 14 King Charles VII of France, who was said But alchemical instruction was mainly to have found the Philosopher’s Stone. oral. The beginner would usually serve THE TRAINING OF THE as an apprentice to a master, if necessary ALCHEMIST searching Europe to do so; like the many students of the time who attended distant How did one become an alchemist? universities in order to study under the The adepts had very high-flown ideas most celebrated teachers. The training about their profession. “Whosoever has bent his back over our books,” states the itself sometimes consisted of the study work known as the Turba Philosophorum, of one or more manuscripts, but more “and is faithful to our art, will not be led often took the form of a catechism to be astray by frivolous thoughts; whosoever memorized. puts his trust in the Divine has discovered THE “GREAT INITIATES” a kingdom that he will lose only in death.” At a later date the adepts of the Ars For the alchemists maintained that it was Magna arrived at a mystical conception of essential to possess high qualities, and initiation. According to the Rosicrucian even to receive divine help, in the form Robert Fludd (1574-1637), the initiates of revelation. This belief was still more formed a “hidden Church” of the elect, pronounced in the adepts of the Royal Art, which in different periods of history took who often mentioned the episode in the Book of Matthew (22:11-14) of the guest different forms. Invisible, unknown to the who did not wear a wedding garment, vulgar, and vested with divine powers, they which is to say that he had not purified were the repositories and guardians of himself morally before undertaking the the Tradition. This doctrine was to have Work: singular success: in the eighteenth century, Know yourself. If you are not wholly purified The wedding feast will harm you. Woe to him who stays too long Let the light-hearted keep away. “The most prominent characteristic of the alchemist,” writes Hoefer, “was his patience. He was never deterred by failure. A practitioner who was taken from his studies by unexpected death would often leave his son the heritage of an unfinished experiment; and it was common enough for the son to include in his own will the secrets of the incomplete experiment he had learned from his father.” The candidate had to follow the maxim Lege, Lege, relege, ora, Labora et invenies (read, read, reread, pray, work, and thou shalt find). While having to read a lot, one had to be wary of merely bookish knowledge. Statue of Jacques Coeur (1395-1456), the “grand Again, the adepts themselves constructed silversmith” of King Chartes VII of France, who was their own equipment, their ovens, glass said to have found the Philosopher’s Stone. Jacques Coeur retorts, and alembics. Palace, Bourges, France. Page 15 Saint-Germain and Cagliostro never failed Everything had to be done to to announce themselves as “illustrious discourage the curious. “At the door of the strangers,” and the same idea can be found laboratory there must always be a sentinel in esoteric works even today. armed with a flaming sword to question all visitors and to turn back those unworthy ALCHEMICAL LITERATURE of being admitted.” There were few, the The alchemists did their best to keep adepts held, who were fit to enter “the the secrets of the Great Work – as well closed palace of the King” (in the words as their esoteric philosophy – from the of Eirenaeus Philalethes). So their aim profane. Why did they do so? It has often had to be disguised beneath mysterious been said that it was for security reasons. symbols, and in this the alchemists were Actually, this esotericism was deliberate, absolutely successful; it is quite impossible and was aimed at hiding from the common to understand any alchemical treatise people secrets that it was thought they without knowing the theory and so having ought not to know. “By revealing the a key to its principal symbols. secret,” Roger Bacon writes in his Opus We must now make a kind of inventory Tertium, “one lessens its efficacy. The of the alchemical literature, modern as people can understand nothing of it; they well as medieval, for a great number of would make common use of it and take such works appeared before the end of away all its value. It would be folly to give the seventeenth century, and some even lettuce to a donkey, which is quite content later. with thistles; and the wicked, if they knew THE WRITTEN WORKS the secret, would misuse it and overthrow The alchemical treatises that have the world. I must not oppose the will come down to us are extremely numerous; of the Divine nor the best interests of they would fill a vast library. This abundant science, so I will not write down the secret output can be divided into two groups: in a way that anybody can understand.” Latin translations of Arabic writings that

Rosicrucian Digest No. 1 The confused and dark matter sustained by the astral sulphurous sign. From Speculum Veritatis 2018 (The Mirror of Truth) Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Cod. Lat. 7286, author unknown. Page 16 appeared in the West about the eleventh union of the male and female principles. century, often confused and full of From the fifteenth century on these plates passages, even pages, taken straight from become more and more numerous and the Greek alchemists; and original works complicated, to the extent that they are real by Western alchemists, published first pentacles, talismanic symbols summarizing in Latin, then in the vernaculars (these a whole theory by including quite separate become more and more frequent from the elements within a single image. These thirteenth century on). These writings are curious illustrations, of real artistic value, sometimes in prose, sometimes in verse. often help us understand the texts. They (The influence of Hermetic Philosophy are particularly numerous in The Twelve on poetry was considerable.) Keys of Basil Valentine, the Amphitheatrum In spite of the very large number of Sapientiae Aeternae of H. Khunrath, and the works lost, those that remain are more than works of Maier and Fludd. enough to acquaint us with alchemy. Some THE ALLEGORIC DRAWINGS scholars have prepared collections of Some works consist entirely of those texts that seem most representative, symbolic images. One such is the Mutus but the libraries of Europe still contain Liber (Silent Book), which sets forth the many little-known manuscripts, only a few various stages of the Great Work in a series of which have ever been published. of engravings without captions. Others Even the most verbose of these works are The Hieroglyphic Drawings of Abraham the remain esoteric, and contain many strange Jew, with a commentary by Nicolas Flamel, symbols and mysterious injunctions, of the and the Rosarius Magnus. following sort: “You must make the now In this category also must be placed fixed Stone, by the ways of Sublimation the famous Tarot, one of the most curious volatile, and the volatile fixed; and the of Eastern esoteric objects. fixed Dissolved; and the Dissolved again volatile, and the volatile again fixed, until it THE TAROT flow and alter, into Solifick, and Lunifick, The arrival of the Bohemians (or with certain Compleatment.” Zingari) in Western Europe is estimated to Often the procedure is set out in disordered form, in order to make the treatise even less comprehensible. Also, most of these works are not limited to the practical side, but deal with all the Hermetic teachings. They frequently begin with an invocation to the Divinity, such as this passage from the Rosarium Philosophorum of Arnold of Villanova: “Our heart will be restless until we have returned to Him, for the superior essence of the elements rises toward that Fire which is above the stars. And we, who issued forth from Him, rightly aspire to return to Him, the one Engraving from J.D. Mylius’s Philosophia source of all things.” The texts become reformata, Frankfurt, 1622. It shows a salamander supported by illustrations; beside detailed in Fire, birds in Air, Water at the base of the drawings of apparatus appear such symbols mountains, and the engraving symbolizes a downward as the hermaphrodite, who represents the pointing triangle with the Earth globe at the center. Page 17 have occurred at the end of the fourteenth is obtained: Chaos, the Creative Fire, the century. Bohemian esoterism included division of the one primordial matter methods of divination; clairvoyance and into four elements, and so on. One can magic, and mythical stories (perhaps also detect a solar theology, knowledge by of Indian origin), but most important illumination (symbolized by the “Popess”), it incorporated the Hermetic tradition, sympathy and antipathy, sexual dualism, condensed into a symbolic and emblematic evil, and the Fall. In these curious pictures, book, the Tarot (also called the Book of whose origin is most mysterious, one can Thoth), which is not only a means of also determine the different stages of the divination but also a sort of summary of Great Work, according to certain modern Hermetic Philosophy. occultists. The Tarot consists of seventy-eight ALCHEMICAL SCULPTURES leaves (divided into twenty-two “major” The alchemists also made use of the leaves and fifty-six­ “minor” ones) whose plastic arts to show their doctrines and figures seem to have been designed about practices. A number of buildings (Jacques the fifteenth century. When the twenty-two Coeur’s house in Bourges) and religious “major” leaves are arranged in a specific buildings (the tower of Saint Jacques in order, the whole Hermetic cosmogony Paris, built by Nicolas Flamel) are rich in the most interesting symbolic sculptures. ALCHEMICAL SYMBOLS In order to conceal their mysteries from the people, the alchemists devised during the Middle Ages a whole system of symbols, which continued in use up to the beginning of modern times. Contrary to current prejudiced views, this symbolism, far from being arbitrary, remained constant through many centuries. Signs resembling stylized hieroglyphics were already known to the Greek alchemists, and were handed down unaltered to the medieval adepts and their successors. Certain treatises, such as the Confessio de Chao Physico-Chimicorum Catholico of Khunrath, are written almost exclusively in signs. John Dee, in his Monas Hieroglyphica, tried to erect an entire metaphysics around Saint-Jacques Tower is all that remains of the church these alchemical signs; the sign of the Sun, Saint-Jacques-de-la-boucherie located on Rue de Rivoli for example, represents the Monad, or the at Rue Nicolas Flamel. The ancient church and its dot, encircled by the world. landmark tower welcomed pilgrims setting out on the road that led to Tours and headed for the way of St Anagrams, enigmas, and acrostics James, which led to the major pilgrimage destination were used by alchemists to disguise their Rosicrucian of Santiago de Compostela.The famous alchemist, ideas. Thus the Philosopher’s Stone is Digest No. 1 Nicolas Flamel, a patron of the church, was buried denoted by the word Azoth, formed with 2018 under its floor. the initial letter common to all alphabets Page 18 (A), followed by the last letter of the CRYPTOGORAPHY Latin, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets (Z), Alchemists frequently used signifying that the Stone is the beginning cryptography, using letters (Raymond and end of all substance. Lully), letters and numbers, mirror writing, or alphabets made up entirely of strange signs (Tritheim). Some writers resorted to music, trying to coordinate the sounds with the reactions of matter; the Rosicrucian Michael Maier is notable here. (This attempt was taken up by Cyrano de Bergerac, in his Comic History of the States and Empires of the Moon.) ALCHEMY AND RELIGION The adepts made numerous analogies with religion, and discovered a kind of nature cult. “Nature,” writes Lully, in his Theories, “has fixed a time for conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. So the alchemist, after fertilizing the matter, must await the birth. When the Stone is born, he must feed it, as he would a child, until it can withstand great heat.” The alchemists made Alchemical cryptic symbols. Anon., 16th century, endless comments on the evangelical text Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit Leiden. “If the grain does not die, it cannot bear fruit,” which they interpreted to mean that as wheat must decompose in the earth, so ALLEGORIES AND MYTHS the Stone must pass through a stage of To disguise their experiments, the putrefaction. In this way, alchemy affiliated alchemists resorted to mythological fables. itself to the domain of religion; certain (The reverse was also thought possible, writers, such as Ripley and De Nuysement, and some authors even made alchemical even made alchemical interpretations interpretations of Homer, Ovid, and of the Scriptures. As George Ripley Virgil.) One widely used myth was that writes in his Book of Twelve Gates: “Both of the phoenix, which rises from its own the world and the Stone issued from an ashes. But the alchemists also fabricated unformed mass. The fall of Lucifer, like their own allegories, with alacrity. One, original sin, symbolizes the corruption of taken from the German work The Little base metals.” The Christian adepts tried Peasant’s Casket, symbolizes the colors to make of their art a kind of esoteric adopted by matter during the Great Work: religion, superior to ordinary Christianity; they readily compared the Philosopher’s “Now as I set off on a journey, I found Stone to Christ, for the Stone, assimilated myself between two mountains, where I to the final cause that can reproduce gazed upon a man of the fields. He was itself, fertilizes and engenders itself, like grave, and of modest appearance, dressed the Word of the Divine. The Ars Magna, in a gray coat, with a black band on his hat, a augmenting the comparisons with the white scarf around his neck, a yellow leather Passion of Christ, becomes a veritable belt and red boots.” Gnosticism. Page 19 Michelspacher’s Mountain of the Adepts Peter Bindon, FRC, MA

Peter Bindon is an anthropologist and English Grand Lodge for Australia, Asia, and botanist. He has served on the Editorial New Zealand after many years of service in that Board of the Rose+Croix Journal (www. position. rosecroixjournal.org) for many years and is a In this article, Frater Bindon helps us to frequent contributor to the Rosicrucian Digest. He was a presenter at the “Hidden in Plain ascend the Mountain of the Adepts and Sight” Esoteric Conference held at Rosicrucian examines some of the symbolism of this diagram Park, where he presented a paper on “Ancient from the Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians Rosicrucian Alchemical Diagrams: Are they Mirrors of of the 16th and 17th centuries. The version Digest of this image shown above was hand colored by No. 1 the Human Soul for the Modern World?” A 2018 few years ago he retired as Grand Master of the H. Spencer Lewis. Page 20 Several illustrations that contain the main celestial bodies – the sun and the collections of symbols clustered around moon – appear, they are in pairs. What a mountain can be found in alchemical might this suggest, particularly when they and Rosicrucian texts. The first thing are accompanied by the alchemical symbol that springs to one’s mind concerning the for mercury? What does the rabbit rushing central dominant image is that mountains to its burrow symbolize? We could ask the are symbolic of an ascent in which effort individual meaning of each of the many is needed to reach a particular goal. It is symbols in the diagram in this way, but this interesting that these symbolic diagrams quest would not bring us to the goal that never seem to have their summit in the the artist desired. clouds, indicating that the goal to be Let us assume that the ultimate goal reached is clear and can be distinctly of the Rosicrucian student using this seen or perceived. Such is the goal of the diagram as a meditational mandala is Rosicrucian adept. union with the Cosmic. The goal appears This diagram comes from the Geheime as an orb, a symbol of the universe that Figuren der Rosenkreuzer (Secret Symbols of is three-dimensional, has mass, and can be the Rosicrucians), first published in Altona, defined by sensory perceptions. The orb Germany, in 1785, so the ideas contained is crowned by a symbol for the King of in the diagram are only a little more than heaven, the Cosmic influence that is not 230 years distant from our time. Despite materialistic and cannot be perceived in the fact that we are far more advanced in the same manner as the symbolic orb. To material things, our spiritual and mystical attain Cosmic Consciousness, the student development may be lagging behind that treads a zigzag path that begins at the of our ancestors. There are many reasons lower left with the hoodwinked seekers for this situation but for now, we return and proceeds through the hen, to the to the “mountain of the adepts” and our dragon, the tree of potential, the fruitful own quest for spiritual advancement. I tree, the house to the orb, and beyond. am certain that you wish to follow your On this journey, various other symbolic instincts in searching out the meaning of manifestations are encountered. the symbolism in this diagram, just as the The lion, the eagle, and the crow are hoodwinked men searching “in the dark” most obvious, but why is there a second and the hunter are doing at the foot of the tower with a dark gateway? Can the mountain. We will examine only a few of seeker be assured that a Golden Dawn the more obvious symbols. awaits the setting of the Silver Moon? I Before one can even attempt to scale encourage you to take a few minutes on the mountain, the wall, which is symbolic a few occasions to ponder the symbolic of false doctrines and beliefs, must be journey depicted in this diagram. As the overcome. Guarding the gateway through well-worn cliché reminds us, “a picture is this wall is the alchemical protector, worth a thousand words.” Alchemical and thought by the alchemists to be Boaz, other mystical diagrams surely contain the great-grandfather of the biblical many more, as they generate different David. While above, an alchemist plants ideas for each individual that contemplates the tree of the sun and the moon (which them. The encouraging aspect to such bears the Philosopher’s Stone as its fruit). diagrams is that although the artist may Another tree has already borne its fruit, have intended the viewer to understand symbolized by the house built on strong a particular message, there are no wrong rock foundations. Notice that each time answers! Page 21 The Alchemist’s Laboratory Dennis Hauck, FRC, PhD The fire burns steadily in the athanor, where it solidified into a glowing white the cylindrical brick furnace at the center powder. of the alchemist’s laboratory. Midway up Alchemists throughout Europe began the athanor, two glowing holes gaze out experimenting with urine, convinced they into the darkened room, while occasional had found the First Matter and could puffs of falling ash drift from a wider use it to make the fabled Philosopher’s opening below. On top sits a huge glass Stone. However, what Brandt had actually retort, its single opening stopped with discovered was phosphorus. Named from clay; and inside the glass, a heavy mass of the Greek word for “light bearing,” it fit dark green mud folds about itself in slow, the alchemists’ expectations for the First swirling currents. Matter perfectly. The writhing blob represents Wherever they could find it, this months of hard work primordial, chaotic substance pulverizing, roasting, was the goal of all dissolving, and breaking alchemists. It was their down materials belief that, once they thought to contain isolated enough a mysterious First Matter, they essence known as could purify it and produce the the First Matter. It Philosopher’s could be found in Stone, which could nature in caves and perfect anything. crevices, locked in Of course, just how certain ores, or even to accumulate and deep within the human purify the First Matter body. Some said it had was the greatest mystery in an affinity for discarded or alchemy. rejected materials, and many medieval Back in the laboratory, we turn our alchemists believed it could be obtained attention away from the blazing furnace. from feces and urine. Along the wall to the right, we see two In 1669, German alchemist Hennig shelves stretching the length of the room. Brandt (shown on the following page) The upper shelf holds the carcasses of announced he had discovered the First assorted frogs, birds, snakes, rabbits, and Matter after distilling over 1,300 gallons rats, while less identifiable creatures peer (5,000 liters) of urine. After months of out from preservative-filled jars. Hanging accumulating urine, he boiled it down from the ceiling is a preserved crocodile to a thick syrup, which he distilled into and some large dried fish. Alchemists a red oil. After adding the oil back into believe the life force is like a subtle stuff the blackened material that remained, he that can be separated from living things Rosicrucian heated the mixture intensely for sixteen and used to impart health to others, or Digest No. 1 hours. Suddenly, it began emitting an eerie even give life to inanimate objects. Many 2018 green light. He poured it into cold water, famous alchemists claim to have created Page 22 Alchemist Hennig Brandt in a 1795 painting by Joseph Wright, depicting Brandt’s discovery of the chemical element phosphorus. little beings (called homunculi) by infusing Beneath the two long shelves is a the life force into flasks of chemical narrow workbench piled with odd-looking compounds. utensils, tongs, ladles, pincers, and leather On the lower shelf along the same bellows. At the center of the bench, next wall are assorted vials, bottles, crocks, and to a small herb press, a balancing scale burlap bags holding various powders and seesaws aimlessly, caught in a passing liquids – each one marked with a unique draft of air. Meanwhile, in the dark space name or symbol. Linger too long in this underneath the table, an iron cauldron full area, and your senses will be overcome by of decomposing organic matter gurgles a foul odor similar to a mixture of rotten suspiciously. This disgusting tub is known eggs and vinegar. It comes from the large as the “digester,” in which materials rot beaker of Oil of Vitriol, a form of sulfuric and break down in an operation called acid. Another biting odor emanates from putrefaction. the Salt of Ammonia, which was first made from camel dung in ancient Egypt. By the Against the opposite wall, two sturdy Middle Ages, alchemists were distilling it bookcases are stuffed with stained papers, from urine or extracting it from hartshorn manuscripts, and leather-bound books. (ammonium bicarbonate). Between the bookcases, an empty chair Other chemicals on this shelf are sits next to a broad wooden desk. On the the Green Lion (iron sulfate), Liquor of cluttered desktop is a large notebook with the Soul (a solution of ammonia, lime, a quill-pen waiting patiently in its inkwell. and sulfur), Powder of the Sun (sulfur The pages are covered in a frenzied hash with antimony and mercuric oxide), and of words and numbers, bizarre diagrams, white Natron (sodium carbonate). All the eerie creatures, and mythological figures chemicals used by alchemists had both intended to capture the alchemist’s inner material and spiritual properties. experiences during his experiments. Page 23 Alchemist’s Workshop in the Rosicrucian Alchemy Exhibit in San Jose, California. On the back wall, a bewildering Isolated in the opposite corner of array of glass vessels are supported on the room, a large gray curtain hangs from wooden pegs. Odd-shaped flasks, beakers, the ceiling. Draped around a small altar, cylinders, and retorts of all sizes spread this tent or tabernacle forms a private across the entire wall. Alchemists design meditation space called the Oratorium. As their vessels for both practical and esoteric much work is done within the Oratorium uses, and they believe the shape of a vessel as is carried out in the laboratory. affects the concentration of the ethereal Alchemists spend many hours in solitary substances with which they work. contemplation, attempting to purify and The womb-shaped retort isolates focus their minds. Their motto is Ora et living essences by heating. The Vase of Labora (“pray and work”). Hermes (or aludel) is a pear-shaped glass Hidden somewhere near the open at both ends used in sublimation. Oratorium is the alchemist’s incubator. The Pelican is a distilling vessel with two This insulated, copper-clad wooden box side arms that create a circulatory mixture – kept warm by the fermenting matter of vapors. Other names for specific vessels within – is where the alchemist directs were the Philosopher’s Egg, Skull Cap (or his thoughts and visualizations. During Brain Pan), Angel Tube, Spirit Holder, fermentation, the First Matter is most Moon Vessel, Mother of the Stone, Matrix open to the influence of the alchemist, Vase, Cup of Babylon, and the Tomb of who tries to enter a symbiotic relationship the Dead. with the matter at hand and suffer with In the corner, an array of coiled it through its transformations. If anyone copper tubing zigzags upward from a other than the alchemist touches or even large gourd-shaped clay vessel on the looks at the incubator, all is lost. floor. Known as a “serpent condenser,” the giant air-cooled apparatus is used for At this stage, the work is easily distilling the foul-smelling solution poured corrupted by impure thoughts. To off from the digester. Distilling purifies alchemists, consciousness is a force of even the foulest liquid and concentrates nature that can be purified and focused the strength of its essences. The process is through meditation and then used like Rosicrucian used to produce alcoholic spirits, essential a fire to transform things. It is the one Digest No. 1 oils, herbal extracts, tonics, tinctures, and essential ingredient you will never find 2018 elixirs. listed in the alchemist’s recipes. Page 24 and

Steve Kalec, FRC

The Alchemical Wedding. Frater Steve Kalec, a Grand Councilor a stroll through the scenery with its many for the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, and a symbols revealing the alchemical process, member of the Traditional Martinist Order, is let us first look into the meaning of the a practicing alchemist, artist, poet, playwright, alchemical Sun and Moon, the alchemical and lecturer. Frater Kalec’s Jungian studies led King and Queen. him to understand the alchemical process as being THE SUN AND THE MOON a universal one throughout all aspects of being. THE KING AND THE QUEEN This realization led him to the study and practice of operative laboratory alchemy. He has studied In Hermetic philosophy, the Sun has practical alchemy with the Philosophers of Nature always been a symbol of a certain aspect and has followed Manfred Junius through his of consciousness as it radiates outwards many European alchemy courses. of itself. The Sun can only shine and A wonderful way to express and give outwards its potent rays of light complement one’s studies is to exteriorize and warmth. It cannot receive or take; it one’s understanding of them. A painting is not its nature, for it is only half and a can reveal a lot, especially if it has an part of the oneness of being. The other uplifting theme full of inspirational and aspect of consciousness is symbolized by philosophical symbols and allegories. the Moon as the feminine receptive nature Alchemy, a field of study that can lead one of the unconscious mind. By herself, she on a passionate quest for knowledge, is a is dark and cold and is a passive polarity good subject for such paintings. Before we compared to the active polarity of the Sun. explore this painting and before we take Alchemically, the Lunar nature is one of Page 25 gathering inwards and nurturing, while the Stone. The Sun and the Moon, as the Father nature of the Sun is one of outpouring and the Mother, now see themselves in the and expansiveness. The Sun, which is divine Son. This is the true union of the consciousness, sees himself in the Moon’s bride and groom, the unification of Adam reflection, while her darkness, symbolizing and Eve, and the mystical wedding of the the unconscious, is warmed and made to alchemists shine with light. The Sun sees his own It is a most beautiful event to behold reflection in the Moon. As Fulcanelli the Sun through the feminine reflection has said, “the Moon secretly absorbs the of the Lunar Astral Light, especially when rays of the Sun and nurtures them in her she is pregnant and full. She is our most bosom.” beautiful Diana. The alchemists have Metaphysically, the inner process of always spoken highly of her and expressed meditation functions on the very same her beauty in most beautiful allegorical principles. The conscious mind directing ways, such as the Lily of the Valley and the thought and concentration is like the Sun. White Rose of the whitening stage of the The unconscious aspect of our being is alchemical process. To them it is symbolic like the Moon and functions on a lunar of the beautiful body of their Diana, level. The unconscious psychic energies stripped of all her terrestriality. That within us must be warmed and kindled by means that it is a purely spiritual inner the solar essence. This is that metaphysical event. Thus the wife of the Sun becomes insemination that philosophers speak of the very mother of our own rebirth. when they say that “consciousness must Consciousness becomes conscious of inseminate the unconscious.” It is this consciousness and we realize the source act that brings to birth a third aspect of of a greater light coming from the Sun, consciousness in our being: the luminous, the Father, within us. But we never forget subjective Self as the inner divine and our Mother, the Moon, and her fertility Hermetic Child. and gentle nurturing. In this symbolism and allegory we see the Osirian myth, and When one practices meditation, Isis, the Virgin Mother, who gave birth one can enter into the fertile feminine to Horus. We can also see the Christian unconscious where the birthing of mystery of the Holy Virgin Mother the inner divine child symbolizes the conceived of the Father. She also gave emerging Inner Self. One must first make birth to the divine child who becomes our the conscious effort of his or her active inner master and savior, as our regenerated willpower and concentration and act upon soul and exalted consciousness. the passive energies of the unconscious. In turn, the receptive and passive energies THE ALCHEMICAL WEDDING of the unconscious nurture and mature In my painting The Alchemical Wedding, the divine seed of the Sun, or “our Gold,” attention is brought initially to the center, as the alchemists like to call it. In this way, where two opposite but complementary the feminine aspect becomes the mother forces of nature are represented. The of divinity in that she brings forth the Son feminine and masculine energies in nature of the Sun. This is that mystical love affair, are being brought into the union of the Rosicrucian that passion and divine union of the male Alchemical Marriage. This is the Heiros Digest No. 1 and female seed that the philosophers Gamos, or the holy marriage of our inner 2018 speak of which begets the Philosopher’s archetypal, divine couple as the alchemical Page 26 King and Queen. Their offspring becomes often watch for the appearance of the the alchemical Hermetic Child, a symbol white swan, for when it appears over of our rebirth into a new and higher matter, the whitening stage of the spirituality. We see this marriage being alchemical process has begun. The white blessed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, stage is the purification of the work. In represented by the descending dove that the lake, we also see the water lily having is the mediator between heaven and spread its petals seeking to absorb the light earth. We also see that the entire scene is of dawn. The lily is a beautiful symbol for divided into two equal parts, or aspects of representing that the highest in us is found consciousness. Two luminaries share this in that which is the lowest in us, as the scene: the Sun to rule the day as the radiant roots of this beautiful flower are anchored conscious aspect of our beings, and the in the murky mud below the surface of the Moon to rule the night as the reflective waters. and nurturing unconscious. An important symbol not to overlook Beginning from the left side, in the is the lilies of the valley at the feet of our depths of darkness, in a little far-off town, Queen. The lily of the valley is a fragile one alchemist is keeping his vigil. Even in flower that likes to live his sleep he tends to in the indirect light of his fire and keeps the The lily is a beautiful the sun, hence in the light, for alchemists symbol for representing valley. This is symbolic are always awake. This that the highest in us is of the emerging Self suggests to us that the found in that which is the also being fragile as it Alchemical Wedding lowest in us, as the roots unfolds its petals to the is to be experienced of this beautiful flower are light of consciousness. inwardly through anchored in the murky It cannot immediately spiritual practice, mud below the surface of look directly at the sun. meditation, aspiration, the waters. Thus we must mature and love for that which and get accustomed to is divine in us. the lunar reflective stage As we explore the scenery, we pass by of the emerging light as we begin to endure Diana’s temple and realize that it is she who the higher intensities of the alchemical fire is our beautiful Queen and goddess. Her of the soul. purity and chastity are symbolized by the We are after all the athanor of our unicorn as the single-horned white horse, work, which is revealed by the athanor tireless when under threat of capture in the very center of the painting. There by the impure of heart, but meek when we see the vessel also containing our approached by a virgin. According to Juan alchemical King and Queen, suggesting Eduardo Cirlot’s A Dictionary of Symbols, that this is a Hermetic Work, and that it the unicorn has been an emblem of the is an inner event. We see the outer fire sword or the Word of the Divine. This also below the athanor heating the vessel and suggests to us that it is the secret fire of the raising the vibrations within it, allowing alchemists, for the Word of the Divine is for the alchemical process to be initiated. the same as fire. The outer fire also symbolizes the fire Next we see a white swan that gently of passion, and of spiritual aspiration, swims over darkened water. Alchemists deep breathing techniques, and spiritual Page 27 practice. All these will set the inner fire of but to help to make real the totality – the the soul within the vessel. whole psyche. It is the ego that serves As we continue to explore the scenery, to light up the entire system, allowing we arrive at the right side of the painting. it to become conscious and thus to be We see here the brightness of the light of realized.” The Red Lion in us must first day. We see the King’s castle and a chapel be conquered and allowed to die, and later on the hill. The ground is rich and fruitful alchemically resurrected. Anyone who has with vines and grapes, suggesting the experienced the “dark night of the soul” action of the solar force. Even the tree is will understand this. in full bloom, as we have entered into the This painting was intended to allow revival of nature in spring. This is an apt the meditative and contemplative mind symbol of our own revival into a glorious to realize the beauty of the alchemical awakening. The right side of the painting process, which is a regeneration of the soul could be seen as being in sharp contrast and consciousness, and the uplifting of to the left, however it could also be seen one’s ordinary human condition. Alchemy as being part of a harmonious union need not be a dark and mysterious journey. of opposing forces. This union is also Though darkness will be encountered, it symbolized by the pavement upon which is to be accepted as the blessed darkness stands our beloved couple exchanging of the soul, within which is found the wedding vows. The Queen, being the regenerative secret fire of the alchemists. lunar white alchemical rose, offers herself In the breaking through of to the King. The King offers himself as unconscious content into consciousness, the solar red alchemical rose. The colors which is like the dawning of light, we are suggestive of the white and red stages first always enter into a darkness of of the alchemical process. The flooring consciousness. Just as a candle flame loses is checkered, representing the forces of its brightness when brought from a dark light and darkness in harmonious balance. room into the sunlight, the Greater Light This is the marriage of the alchemical fire diminishes the light of the ego. Until the and water as our alchemical Sulfur and assimilation of this most adorable solar Mercury. It is said that if it was not for fire is achieved, we enter into a lower water, fire would burn up the world, and level of consciousness, into a moment if it was not for fire, water would drown of obscurity. A certain part of us, as the world. our lesser selves, must pass through the Behind the King follows the alchemical psychological “dark night of the soul” Red Lion, representing the ferociousness and its corresponding “philosophical of the ego. There is nothing wrong with mortification.” Saint John of the Cross the ego as long as it is purified, subservient, said, “The endurance of darkness is the and obedient to the King. In its positive preparation for light.” We always keep our aspects, the ego is will, fortitude, and sacred vigil, for dawn occurs just after the the mighty power of the soul. It is the darkest hour, revealing a “golden dawn,” “I Am” principle, without which, as Carl and a resurrection into a higher order of Jung posited, we cannot be conscious. the Self. A Self, having passed through its Rosicrucian He said, “It seems as if the ego has not alchemical marriage as an entity, becomes Digest No. 1 been produced by nature to follow its own one with that which is the universal within 2018 arbitrary impulses to an unlimited extent, him or her. Page 28 THE CROWNING OF THE HERMETIC CHILD

The Crowning of the Hermetic Child is coming together and merging before the an extension of The Alchemical Wedding clear light of the Self appears. painting. When the painting above is In the center of the painting, we see placed adjacent to the Wedding painting, the Hermetic Child being crowned by the the scenery continues and the branches of Sun, who is its father, and the Moon, who the tree connect the two. is its mother. It is the Hermetic Child as In a clear sky, breaking through our regenerated soul and consciousness. a white cloud, we see the “All Seeing This inner child often represents the Eye,” as the Eye of Conscience and as inner developing “Light” of consciousness. the consciousness of the Divine within Once developed and manifested into inner us all, being present and witnessing this birth, the child represents the stage of life miraculous and sacred event. Two castles when the old person is transformed and stand in the distance, one just left of the reborn through the alchemical process. King, and one just right of the Queen. One The child represents the inner guiding light is the Palace of the Soul and the other the of the new spirituality and consciousness Palace of the Holy Spirit. There is peace that will unfold and become the revealed within the world as the two aspects of Master Within. In Hermetic philosophy, consciousness have united their realms. this Child is called Mercurius and is The two doves, as messengers and androgynous; it is both male and female. mediators between heaven and earth, It is as a flower, with both stamens and symbolize spirituality and the powers of pistils. It is capable of self-generation. The sublimation and fixation. They are perched Hermetic Child is a representation of the on a tree branch whose roots extend into Philosopher’s Stone. Here the child is being the earth. They seem content that their crowned as a spiritual achievement of the work has been done and that heaven has highest degree, where the alchemist’s soul been brought down to earth. has been regenerated through the youthful The peacock to the right of the Queen regenerative force of the alchemical is a symbol of totality, whose tail blends process and elevated into a new and all colors into unity. The two peacocks reawakened spirituality and expanded side by side in harmony suggest the union consciousness. The Hermetic Child is of opposite forces within the original the offspring of the conjunction of the duality; spiritual energy and life force are conscious and unconscious aspects of our now being received from such a unity. being. It is a mystical and metaphysical In meditation, just before the crystalline, realization of that which is the eternal and pure, white light of a new and enhanced the Divine within us. As Baudelaire said: consciousness appears, all colors of the “Alchemy is the distillation of the eternal dispersed light of consciousness are seen from the transient.” Page 29 An Alchemical Journey to the Black Forest Dennis Hauck, FRC, PhD The first alchemist I ever met was named Merus Favilla, a tall, thin Italian man with deep brown eyes and unruly black hair. He had set up a laboratory in Prague but fled the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and settled in Vienna in 1968. I met him at the University of Vienna, where he worked as a lab assistant. At the time, I was a twenty-five-year- old graduate student who spent most of his time translating old alchemy manuscripts in the library. When I found out Merus was a practicing alchemist, I asked if he would teach me some laboratory techniques. Fortunately, he was seeking help with a long experiment he wanted to start. Merus came from the Mutus Liber tradition that focused on isolating an elusive essence known as the First Matter. and makes the trees, plants, and animals to Alchemists believe it is an ethereal grow so large there. substance existing between energy and In the Middle Ages, the Black Forest matter that is the source of all physical was an almost impenetrable woodland. transformations. The First Matter is The trees grew so close together that the hidden in blackness everywhere in the thick canopy they formed blocked out all universe. Blackness is its signature. the sun. Even in the middle of the day, Merus explained the primary source it was like night in the woods. The forest for the First Matter in Europe was in the became known as a crossroads between dirt from the Black Forest in southwest worlds, the home to all kinds of primal Germany (see map on next page). We spirits and strange creatures. would have to drive there to get some We began our 500-mile trip to the dirt and bring it back to his laboratory. Black Forest in the most uncomfortable Alchemists, he said, have been going there vehicle ever made—a 1957 Puch 500. for centuries. Produced by an Austrian bicycle company, All seven metals of alchemy are found the Puch had a roll-back canvas roof with in the Black Forest, and some mines have windows glued into the doors. The body operated continuously for over a thousand was only 52 inches high and 52 inches years. Many alchemists lived isolated lives wide. Merus replaced the front seats with deep in the woods to be close to the two children’s beach chairs so he could Rosicrucian source of the metals. According to Merus, sit up straight behind the wheel. I had to Digest No. 1 it is the concentration of First Matter that lay sideways in the rear seat. There were 2018 causes the metals to mature underground no springs anywhere in the vehicle. The Page 30 upholstery stunk from mildew, and I in different places, he paused to urinate in quickly nicknamed the car “the Puke.” the dirt. It took eleven grueling hours to go As we snaked our way through a from Vienna to the Black Forest in the dense, dark part of the woods into a Puke. We stopped in Staufen, a quaint small clearing, Merus got very excited town just a few miles from the entrance and announced he had found the “virgin to the Munstertal Valley at the southern earth” he was looking for. With the tip of tip of the forest. We checked into the his shoe, he gently marked the spot with Gasthaus zum Löwen (“Inn of the Lions”). an “X.” I threw the sacks to the ground, Merus had reserved Room 5, where the and took out the carved hardwood spade famous alchemist Dr. Johann Georg Faust alchemists used in handling materials spent the last years before he died in 1539. thought to contain First Matter. At no Everyone there insisted this was the time should metallic utensils or containers same Faust on whom Goethe based his come in contact with First Matter, since it legendary character. Supposedly, Faust grounds and changes the energy. returned to Staufen in his declining years I knelt down and started digging. The to be close to the nourishing energies of hard crust gave way in clumps, revealing the Black Forest. There was even a painting the black soil beneath. I was surprised how of him hiking alone in the dark woods. loose and airy the dirt was as I dug deeper. After breakfast the next morning, It was just the opposite of what I expected, we packed up and drove into the Black so I put down the spade and pulled out Forest. We followed the main road into the dirt with my hands. Carefully, I placed the valley and parked off the road near each scoop of dirt deep in the sack. Mount Belchen. I took two burlap sacks Suddenly, a root or something tangled and a small wooden spade out of the around my hand and seemed to be front of the car, and we headed off on tightening its hold. I gasped, yanking my our haphazard hike in the woods. After we hands out of the dirt. When I looked at got deeper into the woods, Merus began my right hand, I could not believe my eyes. sniffing the air and kicking the dirt. A few Coiled around my fingers was the ugliest times he stopped and stood in complete creature I ever saw. silence for several minutes. Three times Nearly two-feet long and thick as a cigar, it looked like a mutant snake without any skin. I felt tiny claws on its underbelly digging into my hand, while its toothless mouth popped open wide. I whipped my arm downwards in a spasm of disgust, flinging the creature to the ground. The stunned snake stretched out and slowly began crawling back toward the hole. “There’s a snake!” I screamed. Merus replied calmly: “It’s just a worm.” As it turned out, he was right. There is a giant earthworm called the regenwurm (“King of Worms”) that lives only in the Page 31 Black Forest (see photo above). Merus and began drying it. Then he filtered it said the First Matter in the soil caused the through a mesh screen and poured the worms to grow so big, and it was a sign we sifted dirt into a large glass retort about had found a good place to dig. the size of a five-gallon water jug. Next, he I decided to start using the spade again added the menstruum and gently heated and eventually filled two sacks half-full of the vessel. Gradually over several weeks, there formed a layer of matted material the precious black soil. We hauled them like peat moss. This is known as the “Turf back to the Puke, and, after an excruciating of the Philosophers,” which indicates the ride back to Vienna, we safely sealed away First Matter is still viable and the work can the dirt in a large clay pot in Merus’s cellar. proceed. The next step in the process was to The layer of turf and another inch prepare the “menstruum,” an alchemical or so of loose material just below it was term for any solvent used to extract removed and dried. Then it was placed essences from materials. In our case, the back in the retort with more dew, sap, perfect menstruum was morning dew, so and plant material. The concoction was we began collecting dew from the grassy distilled repeatedly. This whole process lawn in the park. We made three collection from beginning to end was repeated over frames of burlap stretched on door-sized and over. It would take Merus eleven years wood frames and suspended them about to complete his tincture. four inches off the ground. After the morning dew condensed, we unhooked During this time, I returned to the United States and lost touch with the fabric and wrung out the precious Merus. When I went back to Vienna in liquid, which we stored in clay jugs. We did 1986, he told me he was working on the this every day for over a month, until we Philosopher’s Stone from the isolated had enough. Merus then added sap from First Matter. He thanked me for my trees and living plant material to the dew, assistance and admitted he could not have which he now called the “alkahest” or made his tincture without me. He told “universal solvent.” me it was a great success and a German Rosicrucian On the first day of Spring 1971, pharmaceutical company was interested in Digest No. 1 Merus began the tincturing work. He testing it. But despite repeated requests, he 2018 took out some of the Black Forest dirt would never give me a sample. Page 32 The Alchemical Allegory of the Seed and the Field Steve Kalec, FRC In the mystical philosophies, the It is in late fall, prior to the beginning alchemical processes involving the of winter, that farmers plant their corn and regeneration of the energies of the soul other seeds into the earth. This ensures and consciousness are said to unfold that the seed can have the time to undergo through a cycle very similar to the passing the alchemical process of the dissolution of the yearly seasons of nature: there is and the putrefaction. In order for the the black winter, followed by the white seed to bear fruit, it must die, putrefy, and bloom of spring, the red hot summer, and be opened and readied for just the right the golden autumn when our fruit is ready time to germinate and come to life when for the harvest. These are the color phases the etheric energies of life pour out their of the Great Work. greatest influences upon it in the spring. Let us begin by exploring the The Kybalion states that “While All allegorical symbolism of the blackening is in THE ALL, it is equally true that of winter. As our days were shortened THE ALL is in All.” This expresses for and our nights lengthened, a somber and us the law of correspondence as “what is darkening condition was felt in an all- above is as what is below.” We can readily embracing sense. Nature entered into a understand that the forces of nature that state of sleep, which very much alludes operate in the macrocosm are also the to a sort of death as the external activities forces that operate in the microcosm of of nature slowed down. Consciousness humanity. There must therefore also be a itself collectively seemed to be reduced certain correspondence between the outer as many kinds of creatures hibernated for activities of nature and the inner process the season. Plants, flowers, trees, and all of the transformation and elevation of kinds of vegetation became dormant and humanity’s soul and consciousness. The lifeless as they lost their vivid colors and greater forces of nature can be found in gave way to the blackening and darkness the little universe of individuals. Therefore of winter. through the correspondence that exists It would seem to be a very sorry state, between the outer and the inner world, melancholic and depressing. Yet if we look there can be seen a sort of mirroring in a little deeper into the esoteric principles the process of nature’s regeneration, that transpired, we might see that this and the regeneration of humanity and blackness is really a blessed darkness, the unfolding of everyone’s soul and which is how it is viewed by mystics and consciousness. Hermetic philosophers. A cold stillness A seed holds within itself its and darkness may overshadow the world, potentiality of being. Within a tiny seed yet a regeneration, and a new life is there lies the potentiality of a giant tree. warming and developing within nature’s One should meditate on this mystery, very womb, and within the seeds of life for this seed also contains within itself itself. its entire species. One tiny seed contains Page 33 within itself an entire forest. If we succeed Here gold is used as seed and is planted to in our meditation, we will come to realize harvest more gold. Gold is the symbol of that this tiny seed also contains within the sun, of the soul, and of consciousness. itself all the trees of its species that have The earth and the field is the body. ever germinated into life. For it came The darkness of the tomb, and the from the first tree. In a deeper esoteric cultivation of the earth and the field, understanding, it is in itself the first tree readily bring to mind the saturnine aspect and the last tree, the Alpha and the Omega. of matter and the body. In Chapter XIII “All is in THE ALL…THE ALL is in All.” of the Bhagavad Gita the body is called After the seed of our soul is placed in the field, and those who know this are the black earth symbolizing the womb and called the knowers of the field. In the the raw richness of the unconscious, the Zohar (3.141b, 1.27b), it is said: “Those tomb of Osiris, or the sepulcher of Christ, alone to whom the mysteries are confided, it is reborn following putrefaction. It is in are called the cultivators of the fields.” In the cycle of our philosophic winter that, as The Hermetical Triumph (page 31), Eudoxus a seed, our consciousness is sown into the states that, “The Stone is a Field that the earth to be broken, to be opened, to pass wise cultivate, into which Nature and Art through philosophical death, to putrefy have planted the seed that must produce and enter our tomb, where we come its fruit.” face to face with the depths of our inner In Basil Valentine’s Eighth Key (seen darkness. Oh, what a sorry state, what an on the following page) there is a man in agonizing situation. How can this be the a cemetery resurrecting from a grave. At blessed darkness of the alchemists? the foot of the grave, corn is sprouting, In Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens, in representing the fruition of our seed. Corn emblem six (seen above), there is a man is also a symbol of immortality. Adjacent sowing gold into a tilled field. The caption to the grave lays a corpse in a tilled field, Rosicrucian states, “Sow your gold into white foliated symbolizing the idea that the seed that is Digest No. 1 earth,” that is into pure and tilled earth. not sown in the earth does not resurrect. 2018 It is said that it takes gold to make gold. We also see a man sowing grain, who is Page 34 met by an angel sounding a trumpet blooming of his unfolding consciousness. heralding the beginning of the Great Work. This is the first order of our transmutation. Basil Valentine said that, “Neither human The darkness of our inner saturnine nor animal bodies can be multiplied or condition is transmuted into the brightness propagated without decomposition; the and shimmering reflective nature of silver. grain and all vegetable seed, when cast into As we become accustomed to the action the ground, must decay before it can spring of the psychic energies, we are readied up again.” This is the conversion of the for the intensity of the solar fire of our old self and the ordinary personality. Two philosophical summer. Our lunar reflective men have hit the target in the distant field silver will proceed through transmutation with a key resting on its top surface. This and become our most noble, glittering, represents that putrefaction is the key and and incorruptible metal of gold, symbol they have attained the process. of man’s highest attainment and Cosmic Mystics and students of the esoteric Consciousness in the golden fall when our philosophies know that this allegorical Great Work will be completed. sowing of the seed is the sowing of our consciousness and must be understood as This theme speaks unanimously an inward process. through the works Consciousness of the alchemists. In must be turned Mylius’s Philosophia inwards through a Reformata, in backward flow, and emblem fourteen, into the depths of we can see again a our being, there man sowing grain, to find the Gold symbolizing the within. This is that virtues of the soul great task that we having the power undertake when to tinge or convert. we meditate and He is greeted by the practice inner winged angel of the spiritual techniques revelation sounding and spiritual exercises. Rosicrucians know the trumpet of resurrection. this process especially as the “Overall To everything there is a season, and Exercise.” The slow fire of our putrefaction the dark night of our winter will give way is really the regiment of the secret fire of to glorious blossoming spring, where if we our purified psychic energies, which allows have kept our vigil, we will understand the for the blackest of our metal, the lead words of 1 Corinthians 15:42: “What was of the unconscious self, to be whitened sown in the earth as a perishable thing is through the action of the inner heat. raised imperishable.” “Decay is a wonderful smith,” according to The Golden Chain of Homer, meaning Let us then obey the laws of nature that it transforms one element or state and “follow in her footsteps.” Let us look to another. The dedicated and disciplined forward to our inner seasons and let us sower knows his field and knows the body always be prepared for the work that is within which one can also find the psychic to be done in them as the blackening of body. Through his vigilance he will see in winter, the white bloom of spring, the red the coming spring the efflorescence and hot summer, and the golden autumn. Page 35 The New Alchemy Museum at Rosicrucian Park

Respected Member of our Order, When H. Spencer Lewis moved the headquarters of the Rosicrucian Order to San Jose, California in 1927, he envisioned Rosicrucian Park as a center for art, science, and mysticism that would inspire members and non-member guests for generations to come. In 1929, he began the extraordinary collection of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, which is now the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts on display in western North America. In 1936, H. Spencer Lewis constructed the fifth planetarium in the United States, which continues to present complimentary star shows every day. In 1939, Ralph Lewis and his brother, Earle, designed the Rosicrucian Research Library to house the exceptional collection of books that H. Spencer Lewis had bequeathed to the Order, along with other important esoteric works. In 1949, following the Depression and wartime building supplies rationing, H. Spencer Lewis’s recorded voice played during the dedication of the beautiful Grand Temple, which serves as the spiritual home to Rosicrucians around the world. In 1966, the current Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, designed and constructed by Ralph and Earle Lewis, was completed and today welcomes more than 100,000 guests per year. More recently we have continued H. Spencer Lewis’s vision for Rosicrucian Park with the creation of the Rosicrucian Peace Garden (2004), an educational garden authentic to the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt; the Alchemy Garden (2012) with plants related to the four elements of the Great Work that can be used in the laboratory; the Rosicrucian Labyrinth (2015), a walking meditation tool for inner transformation, designed with native plants; the Research Library’s Rare Books Room (2015), displaying some of H. Spencer Lewis’s personal books and possessions and other historic works; and Rosicrucian Park’s achievement of Net Zero Carbon status (2017), now producing enough clean, renewable energy to meet our annual energy consumption requirements. In 2020, we will continue H. Spencer Lewis’s legacy with the opening of the Rosicrucian Alchemy Museum in what is currently the RCUI building. For three years, our magnificent Alchemy Exhibit has been a popular display at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. We are now ready to begin the construction of its permanent home. The Alchemy Museum at Rosicrucian Park will offer an interactive introduction to the fascinating history of Alchemy (with its origins in Egypt), as well as hands-on Rosicrucian demonstrations involving the seven steps of the alchemical process, lab workstations Digest No. 1 for up to twelve students, and a meditation chamber. 2018 Page 36 Most importantly, this newest addition to Rosicrucian Park will serve to educate our guests, through the symbolism of the alchemical processes, on the primary purpose that each of us shares as Rosicrucian students; that is, our evolution from a lower state of being (symbolized by the base metals) to a higher state of being (symbolized by the radiant gold of Illumination). The new Alchemy Museum at Rosicrucian Park will assist us in bringing into public awareness the profundity of the mystic’s perpetual search for the Philosopher’s Stone, which is our greatest potential as human beings. The estimated cost for the Alchemy Museum is $4,994,900, which includes the complete renovation of the 84-year-old RCUI building, constructed by H. Spencer Lewis in 1934, and a world-class museum exhibit. Please visit http://www.rosicrucianpark.org/alchemy-museum for details on the proposed features and experiences that this new addition to Rosicrucian Park will provide. The Alchemy Museum, together with our other recent projects, ensures that Rosicrucian Park continues to serve as a center of wisdom and esoteric culture well into the twenty-first century. We invite you to participate in perpetuating the legacy that has been bequeathed to all of us through a one-time gift https://www.rosicrucian.org/donate/donate- alchemy.php or through a monthly commitment, which you can make here: https:// www.rosicrucian.org/donate/monthly-recurring-donation.php. Thank you for your continuing support of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC! Sincerely and fraternally, The Board of Directors of the English Grand Lodge for the Americas

Grand Master Julie Scott, President Lonnie Edwards, MD, Vice President

Julian Johnson, Treasurer Karen Wark, Secretary Marie Toulouse Shaluly, Director

Above and on back cover - artist renderings of the New Alchemy Museum at Rosicrucian Park.

Page 37 Rosicrucian Park 1342 Naglee Avenue • San Jose CA 95126 USA